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April 10, 2018

Photo by Colin Bishop Photography

7 Breweries Branching into Cider

By Kiana Pontrelli

Cider has been seeing its revolution and, understandably, beer might be getting a little jealous. While the whole nation is feeling this trend, the Pacific Northwest, and its legions of craft beverage lovers, is taking the hardest hit — for the better. In Washington and Oregon, cider makes up over 2 percent of the beer market, while the rest of the nation sits around 1 percent. And to boot, according to recent Nielsen Data reports, local and regional cider consumption has continued to rise in, nearly 50 percent in 2017 over 2016.

To join in on the hype, many Northwest breweries have experimented with making a cider or two of their own. So if you’re still just a beer fan, get acquainted with this new beverage through one of your favorite brewers. Check out these makers that have freshened up their tap list with a little bit of apple.

Dry Cider| Double Mountain BrewingHidden in Double Mountain Brewery’s line-up is a good old dry cider. Keeping it simple for their first cider — though an oaked version has been recently released — the team used locally grown Newton Pippin apples from the Double Mountain Orchard in Hood River, Oregon. The cider has notes of juicy pear, lychee, green fruit and chamomile. Nice and light aromas for this crisp dry sip.

Cupid’s Crush |Elk Horn BreweryThis brewery out of Eugene, Oregon, has tagged on “cider house” to the end of its name, as it now features a short line-up of ciders and perrys. This includes Cupid’s Crush, an off-dry blood orange cider. You can also find it mixed in with one of the flagship beers in a concoction called Summer Lovin’.

House Dry Apple |Spinnakers Gastro PubSpinnakers has tried seemingly every possibility of beers — from ales and stouts to lagers, sours and saisons. It was only a matter of time before the province’s first brewpub inched toward ciders. Now a staple, the House Dry Apple can be found on tap all year long, featuring five different apples sourced from the De Simone Farms in the Okanagan Valley.

Wayfarer Sour |Deschutes BreweryDeschutes Brewery has had its moment with cider as well. Featured exclusively at the pub in Bend, Oregon, you can find the Wayfarer Sour cider. Focused on five varieties hand-selected with a tenured orchardist in an 86-year-old orchard, this cider makes for a dry sipper, with a tart finish.

Railcider | Railside BrewingIn Vancouver, Washington, Railside’s extensive taplist is also home to the brewery’s foray into cider. For the cider introduction, they went with a tart sour cherry, available only in the brewpub. So pucker up, grab your growler and head over to Railside.

Dukes Hard Cider |Tree Brewing Co.Tree Brewing recognized the cider trend and created Dukes Hard Cider for its fans several years ago. The ciders are made with apples, locally sourced in the brewery’s hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia. Tree has since added on ginger-and pear-flavored ciders to the list as well. All three flavors can be bought and savored together in the 12-can cider variety pack.

Wilde Appel | Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Produced in small-batches on a farm in Hood River County, this blend is built on fresh-pressed local apples and wild crab apples — the latter gives the cider its name. Fermented with both a house-culture and ambient yeast, the cider is also oak aged for a few months to give the wild, earthy, crisp fruit some oak imprint with tannin and spice.